A Professional’s Opinion
In this article called Defining Cyberculture written by Jakub Macek Ph.D. he states that cyberculture can be described,
“Cultural issues related to “cyber-topics”, e.g. cybernetics, computerization, digital revolution, cyborgization of the human body, etc., and always incorporates at least an implicit link to an anticipation of the future, to a kind of Lunenfeldian “not yet”. However, any more explicit understanding of the referent of cyberculture varies from author to author and is actually often absent.”
They are basically groups of people that share the same interests and meet on websites online and chat, share stories or photos, and discuss different aspects of what gathered them together in the first place. FoodPorn is an internet culture because people are going online and doing exactly what I mentioned above. They are posting pictures and recipes and allowing other people to comment on them and discuss what works best with certain recipes and how their recipe turned out for others that have tried it. There are many different definitions for the word “Culture” but the one I like the best comes from Merriam-Webster online, and it defines culture as,
“the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time.”
My Definition
To me, the definition of culture is a group of people with similar interests or backgrounds. A culture can be anything from your religious views to the country you came from. I myself am very proud of my Arabic culture, as well as my religious culture, and everyone knows how proud I am because I display it every day with tattoos all over my body. I am a pretty active member in both communities, a little less now that I am in college, but still do as much as I can when I can. One culture that I have been very very active in since I came to college is the cultures of fraternities. At this school alone there are a couple hundred men that are part of a fraternity and it is a lifestyle that I embrace whole-heartedly as do many of the other members. Not just for the partying aspect, but for the ideals we try every day to live by. You have to be proud of your culture because it plays an important role in your life and shapes who you are as a person.
Some criteria for internet cultures, or cybercultures, are that everyone must be interested in the same topic. For example, FoodPorn is an internet culture all about food and recipes. Also, people have to be willing to discuss their points of view or else it wont be a working community.